Do you need a deck permit in Colorado?
By Mario Bailey Last checked
- Always required
- 1
- of 3 jurisdictions
- Conditional
- 2
- depends on size or scope
- Not required
- 0
- exempt outright
Deck Permit rules nationwide, beyond Colorado.
Requirements and size thresholds for deck permits vary by locality. The table below compares what each Colorado county or city requires. Always confirm with the local office before starting.
Comparing states? See deck permit rules across every locality we cover.
The application steps and inspection sequence for deck permits come from the model code rather than from Colorado law, so they read the same wherever you build. We keep that walkthrough in one place: how a deck permit application and its inspections work, start to finish. What changes between Colorado jurisdictions is below: who requires a permit, what they charge, and which office you file with.
Swipe sideways to see thresholds and confidence.
| Locality | Permit required? | Typical threshold | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aurora | Conditional | deck height above grade at which a permit is required regardless of whether the deck is attached to the house | Confirmed on official page |
| Denver | Conditional | uncovered decks under 12 in off the ground require no permit; 12 in or more requires a zoning permit; 30 in or more also requires a building permit | Confirmed on official page |
| Jefferson County | Yes | No exemption by height or size: a Building Permit is required for new decks, deck expansions, replacement decks, and deck repairs. Only a ground-level concrete pad, rather than an elevated deck, avoids the permit. | Confirmed on official page |
| No localities match your filter. | |||
What a deck permit costs in Colorado
3 Colorado jurisdictions we cover publish a fee figure for this work. Each line is quoted from that office's own schedule and linked to its citation. The figures are not comparable to one another: some are flat minimums, some a percentage of job value, some charged per fixture, so what you pay depends on which schedule applies and on your job's valuation.
On the 2026 flat-rate schedule (Form #A175, footer "Flat-Rate Fee (Revised 08/2026)") the line item "Single Family Residential Deck" sits under the price heading "$402 EACH", so a residential deck permit is a flat $402.00 rather than a valuation calculation. City use tax on materials is collected separately: "The flat fee process has no effect on the calculation and collection of city use taxes."
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Valuation-based building permit fee per CPD Table 1 with a $20 minimum for work valued at $500 or less, per the Development Fees schedule (ADMIN 138, rev. May 2024)
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Billed as a building permit on the county valuation fee table starting at a $55 minimum for the first $1,000 of value plus a 65% plan review fee, per the 2024 Building Code Supplements fee schedule effective 7/1/2026
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Jurisdictions not listed publish no dollar figure we could quote. Absence does not mean a permit is free.
Common questions about deck permits in Colorado
- Do I need a deck permit in Colorado?
- In Colorado it depends on the size of the job. Permits are issued locally, so the answer comes from your Colorado city or county rather than a single statewide rule. Of the 3 Colorado jurisdictions we have verified for deck work, 1 requires a permit outright, 2 depend on the size or scope of the job, and 0 require none.
- Is there a deck permit exemption in Colorado?
- 2 of the 3 Colorado jurisdictions we cover set a threshold rather than a flat rule, so the same job can be exempt in one Colorado county and permitted in the next. The table above lists each Colorado jurisdiction's published threshold in its own words, with the source and the date we verified it.
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